A stele from Tell Aḥmar (ancient Til Barsip), now in the Aleppo Museum, has an unfinished inscription describing Esarhaddon's military conquests. Til Barsip is located on the Euphrates River near the modern border between Turkey and Syria. This text is commonly referred to as Esarhaddon's Monument B (Mnm. B).
Access Esarhaddon 97 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003326/]
Source:
The obverse depicts Esarhaddon holding two prisoners with ropes. The kneeling, beardless Negroid figure wearing a uraeus headdress is generally identified as the crown prince of Egypt, Ušanaḫuru. The identity of the second figure, the bearded man wearing a conical hat, is not certain. Thureau-Dangin proposed that it was Abdi-Milkūti, king of Sidon, based on references to this ruler in Esarhaddon's inscriptions, including line 25 of this text, and other scholars have identified this captive as Baʾalu, king of Tyre, since he supported Egypt and his city was besieged. The identification with Abdi-Milkūti is unlikely since this adversary of Esarhaddon was beheaded shortly after an unsuccessful escape attempt. As for the identification as Baʾalu, Ephʿal correctly notes that nowhere in Esarhaddon's inscriptions is there any mention of this king's capture or surrender after the siege of his city; this king, however, did continue to rule Tyre during the reign of Ashurbanipal. The identity of the standing, bearded prisoner remains open to debate. Compare Miglus, who suggests that there is no need to seek a direct link between the prisoners represented on the steles and specific military achievements recorded in Esarhaddon inscriptions, thus no need to identify the figures with known rulers. There are pictures of Ashurbanipal on one side of the stele and Šamaš-šuma-ukīn on the other.
The script is a mixture of Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian signs, but Neo-Assyrian forms predominate. There is an uninscribed duplicate stele from Til Barsip that has been lined in preparation for an inscription. The steles measure 380×172×70 cm (inscribed stele) and 214×110×81 cm (duplicate stele). The steles were prepared very late in the reign, as pointed out by numerous scholars. The absence of an inscription on one stele and the fact that the inscribed stele was never completed may indicate that the pair of monuments was made not long before Esarhaddon's death in 669 BC.
A stele discovered at Zinçirli (ancient Samʾal) has an Akkadian inscription commemorating Esarhaddon's invasion of Egypt. The text was composed after 22 Duʾūzu (IV) 671 BC on the basis of the military campaigns. This text is commonly referred to as Esarhaddon's Monument A (Mnm. A).
Access Esarhaddon 98 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003327/]
Source:
As with the steles from Til-Barsip (text no. 97), the obverse depicts Esarhaddon holding two prisoners with ropes. For the identification on the captive rulers, see the commentary of the previous text (text no. 97). There are symbols of eleven or twelve gods. One could argue that these represent the deities mentioned at the beginning of the inscription, however, there are only ten gods mentioned, one or two fewer than the symbols shown before the representation of Esarhaddon. The script is a mixture of Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian signs, but Neo-Assyrian forms predominate. Photographs of the object have appeared numerous publications, but only a few of those references have been included in the bibliography.
A fragment of a tablet in the Kuyunjik collection of the British Museum preserves part of an inscription of Esarhaddon that is similar to the text inscribed upon text no. 98 (Zinçirli stele) and it is therefore edited with texts on steles rather than with other inscriptions known only from tablet copies. The text was copied from an inscription on a protective bull colossus in a doorway.
Access Esarhaddon 99 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003328/]
Source:
DT 299 (+) 82–3–23,39 most likely came from the same tablet. The extant text of the obverse parallels that of text no. 98 (Zinçirli stele) obv. 13–26 and 32–35; there is minor variation in the list of gods in lines 2 and 5 and the omission of some text. Restorations are made from that text.
A fragment of a tablet in the Kuyunjik collection of the British Museum preserves part of an inscription of Esarhaddon similar to the text inscribed upon text no. 98 (Zinçirli stele) and it is therefore edited with texts on steles rather than with other inscriptions known only from tablet copies.
Access Esarhaddon 100 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003329/]
Source:
The extant text duplicates, with deviation, text no. 98 (Zinçirli stele) rev. 13–17. It is possible that both K 13649 and K 7967 (text no. 101) come from the same tablet. This may be so, but lacking firm evidence it is better to edit them separately. Because there are differences between this text and the Zinçirli stele and since the line divisions and space available are not known with certainty, most of the missing text has not been reconstructed in the transliteration.
A fragment of a tablet in the Kuyunjik collection of the British Museum preserves part of an inscription which duplicates the text inscribed upon text no. 98 (Zinçirli stele) and it is therefore edited with texts on steles rather than with other inscriptions known only from tablet copies.
Access Esarhaddon 101 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003330/]
Source:
Part of one face (probably the reverse) is preserved. The extant text duplicates part of text no. 98 (Zinçirli stele) rev. 19–26. It is possible that both K 7967 and K 13649 (text no. 100) come from the same tablet. This may be so, but lacking firm evidence it is better to edit them separately. Because there may be differences between this text and the Zinçirli stele and since the line divisions and space available are not known with certainty, most of the missing text has not been reconstructed in the transliteration.
A fragment of a stone stele found near Qaqun in central Israel has an inscription that is reported to deal with Esarhaddon's campaigns across the Sinai Desert on his way to Egypt. "It comprises twenty lines, each preserving only a few signs. The Zinçirli and Nahr el-Kelb inscriptions report Esarhaddon's conquest of Egypt and his actions after the first battle there, while the Qaqun fragment describes an earlier stage of the military campaign, beginning with the departure from the city of Ashur, the attack on Baal, king of Tyre, who was an ally of Taharqa, and the advance to southern Palestine and farther to the Sinai Desert" (Ephʿal, JCS 57 [2005] p. 109). The text also "reports that the Assyrian army crossed the Sinai with the assistance of the people of Mibsam" (ibid. p. 109 n. 38). Cogan (Studies Ephʿal) has suggested that the fragment from Ben Shemen (text no. 1007) may originally have belonged to the same stele as the fragment from Qaqun. The quality of the published photograph is such that no transliteration of the text is given here. The inscription is reportedly to be published by E. Weissert.
Access Esarhaddon 102 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003331/]
Source:
An Akkadian inscription carved into a niche in the rock face at the mouth of the estuary known as the Nahr el-Kelb, Lebanon, describes the defeat of the Egyptian pharaoh Taharqa and the looting of Memphis. The text is dated to after 22 Duʾūzu (IV) 671 BC. This text is commonly referred to as Esarhaddon's Monument C (Mnm. C).
Access Esarhaddon 103 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap4/Q003332/]
Source:
The accompanying relief depicts Esarhaddon and symbols of the gods mentioned at the beginning of the inscription. The script is a mixture of Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian signs, but Neo-Assyrian forms predominate. The restorations at the beginning of lines 1–7 are based on text no. 98 (Zinçirli stele). The text was collated from a cast in the Vorderasiatische Museum (Berlin).
Erle Leichty
Erle Leichty, 'Anatolia and Syria-Palestine', RINAP 4: Esarhaddon, The RINAP 4 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2019 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap4/rinap4textintroductions/anatoliaandsyriapalestine/]